Turkish Airlines named country's most valuable brand

A leading London-based firm named Turkey’s national flag carrier Turkish Airlines as the country’s most valuable brand for 2018.

The airlines topped the list of top 100 Turkish brands for this year with a brand value worth more than $2 billion, according to Brand Finance's survey.

Turkish Airlines raised its brand value by 6 percent in 2018 compared to last year, it said.

Integrated telecommunications service provider Turk Telekom lost its lead as the most valuable brand of 2017 as its brand value dropped 27 percent year-on-year in 2018.

Brand value of Turkish telecommunication giant dropped to $1.9 billion in 2018, down from $2.6 billion last year.

Akbank, a private Turkish lender owned by Sabanci Group, and Garanti Bank, another lender in the Turkish market partly owned by Spain’s BBVA, retained fourth and fifth places on the list with $1.65 billion and nearly $1.6 billion, despite increasing their brand values from last year.

Leading Turkish defense contractor Aselsan posted the highest hike in its brand value among Turkey's top 100 firms, up 91 percent from 2017. Thus, Aselsan rose to 28th place from 34th spot in the list.

The survey also showed that Besiktas has been ranked as the most valuable Turkish football club with $121 million. It was followed by Fenerbahce ($102 million), Galatasaray ($74 million) and Trabzonspor ($33 million).

- Total worth

Brand Finance revealed that total worth of Turkey's 100 most valuable brands stood at $27.5 billion this year, almost unchanged compared to last year, according to the survey.